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"Power Nap"?
- Thread starter glitch44
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Ya. I actually thought that was a typo/mistake. But maybe it is for the 11 inch Air. I mean, the generation that got the instant on, one month sleep, etc.
I'm assuming that means macs WITH flash storage will need updating. I think the reason for this is because when a HDD has to start up, it needs to start spinning which would make noise; with SSD it doesn't.
It means it is limited to flash only, but some of those flash macs will require an update. Hard drive based macs are NOT supported.
If you think about it, this makes sense. You do not want a hard drive constantly turning, it will kill it and zap your battery.
(That might be what you were trying to say.)
That I think is the point of the feature - its exploiting the power advantages and non-moving part nature of SSDs. Its not efficient nor desirable to have a process that runs the hard drive during sleep - it wastes lots of power and it wears down the drive.
So if you have an older Macbook Pro, this feature will just not work, or you won't be able to update the release at all? Little confused.
The way I understand it (I may be wrong), unless your laptop (this is only for laptops) came standard with a SSD (and nothing else), you cannot use this feature period. Even in some cases, a firmware update may be needed.
Apple doesnt want this on any computer that has a stock spinning disk drive - they dont want to risk damaging users disks with unnecessary activity. Maybe they will expand it to other laptops that have a SSD, but I wouldnt count on it.
So do they not wanting you downloading Mountain Lion in general then, or will they let you download it, but the feature won't work.
Powernap is just one feature of ML - it’s just one that only works on certain limited macs just like Air Drop. That doesn’t mean at all that Apple doesn’t want you to download and install ML for the rest of the 200+ features.
ML works on all full 64 bit macs.
ETA: Here are the requirements for Mountain Lion - it supports a wide selection of Macs
i have an old mid 2009 mbp which i upgraded with an SSD a while ago and i think i have the "Power Nap" option ...
when i go to the "save energy" settings there's a new button to enable. it says "check for e-mails and notifications during sleep mode every once in a while" (roughly translated from german) and i can enable it
when i go to the "save energy" settings there's a new button to enable. it says "check for e-mails and notifications during sleep mode every once in a while" (roughly translated from german) and i can enable it
I would expect so although it might be a smart feature if you could set it to only function when plugged in. Can you do that?
My MBA 11" with 10.8 DP4 is just prompted with EFI 1.4 update for "Macs running 10.8). Presumably to bring Power Nap?
UPDATE: Confirmed – EFI update brings Power Nap support
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I think the point is that it should only use a tiny bit of power as it presumably keeps the processor at the lowest clock-speed, maybe forces the use of only one core, and since it requires an SSD there should be no significant heat, no need for fans etc., so power draw should be tiny.
The decision is whether you want to trade off a small amount of power drain for ensuring that syncing features continue. That said though I really don't see the usefulness if you're on the go, as you're unlikely to have access to Time Machine, and the last thing you want is your machine to be trying every nearby WiFi hotspot in an attempt to get online for e-mail etc.
Result is that this is most useful for a machine that's plugged in to charge at home, as you can save power without interrupting Time Machine backups, and when you re-open the machine it'll be up to date on e-mails etc.
Have you been able to test this out and confirm that it works on your MBP with an SSD?
My girlfriend has a 2011 MBP and her biggest annoyance is waking up her MBP and having to wait for iMessages and emails to catch up. She is considering selling her MBP for a MBA just for this feature. I hate selling something of so much value on eBay or Craigslist, so I am trying to avoid it.
I am hoping we can just replace the stock hard drive on the MBP with a 128 or 256mb SSD and simply enable this feature. However, if it requires it to be an original SSD from Apple, then she will probably make the switch.
As far as I can tell, it does not really do anything although I can activate it.
EDIT: Just went into Preferences and the box now gets unchecked after leaving System Preferences by itself - so possibly its appearance is just a bug.
EDIT: Just went into Preferences and the box now gets unchecked after leaving System Preferences by itself - so possibly its appearance is just a bug.